Four of the
twenty incubées from the project received their plots in Mongata, a little
further east of Ibi, on a field bought by the ISAV. These four young
entrepreneurs share their impressions in this update.
Emmanuel Mwanangulu
“For now,
we haven’t touched what we were expecting yet. The intercroppings on which we
were cropping failed to give a proper yield. The cassava should be more
rewarding. In terms of field work, it’s going pretty well (...) We have to be
careful with the weeding, because of intercropping. We had to hold meetings
with the workers to plan the weeding. It works pretty well. (...) At the ISAV, I was really good with
theory and practice on small surfaces. With the project, I learned how to work on and
manage hectares, and not just small patches with annuals and perennials.”
Jeancy Peta
"It
is, more than anything, the field experience. Experience in management and also
in facilitating communication with the peasants. (...) We were well prepared
for what was awaiting us on the field. (...) [We learned] to negotiate
with peasants. How to
understand peasants, to know their milieu… (…) I would say that it’s going to
get better. It will allow us to dare create our own small businesses.”
Bernard Ngudiankama
“This
allowed new engineers to be in contact with practices on the field. In
practice, we didn’t know, for example, what 2000 hectares were like. The
unemployment rate is high. This will allow us to be entrepreneurs, to work.
(...) It is difficult to adapt, the conditions weren’t all there. There are some technical aspects for
which we hadn’t had training. (...) We should have a system to be able to
communication and share with partners elsewhere. (...) I learned to calculate
production costs with all the parameters, the material, durable life,
amortization... (...) The
little I will receive will help me create my own enterprise. A suggestion:
After the incubator is over, we should do a follow-up with all the engineers.”
Fils Bonzenga
"We hope to
have something good with the cassava. We are trained, and with all the
training, it will help us launch our own enterprises. (...) There were failures
with the niebe, there wasn’t enough people to do all the work. (...) The
accounting, the profitability costs for crops, taking into account all those
factors… is required knowledge for us. Agroforestry is a good system,
especially with the fruit trees. (...) We hope it will go well. We just
have to hope. The agricultural sector holds promises."
